RIOTING AND MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 7

RIOTING AND MURDER.

KU KLUX ELAN ORGY. PENNSYLVANIA CONFLICTS. ATTACK ON CATHOLICS. TWO DEFENDERS KILLED. TROOPS ARREST MARAUDERS By Telegraph Association Copyright. (Received 11.15 p.m.) A. and N.Z. NEW YORK, April 6. The renewal of the Ku Klux Klan's anti-racial campaign Has manifested itself with disastrous results in the town of Lilly, Pennsylvania. The inhabitants there are chiefly Roman Catholic. The Klan had been attempting to erect flaming crosses in the town, but each time the townspeople had driven them away. The Klan band, however, increased in numbers, and descended on the town. They killed two of the inhabitants, fatally wounded two, and seriously injured ten others. The klansmen then successfully planted their flaming crosses in the principal streets. State troopers, having received the alarm, attacked the marauders in the midst of their orgy and arrested 23 of their number. They were charged with rioting and murder. The townspeople attempted to stop 400 marching klansmen who had gathered from neighbouring towns by turning a fire hose upon them, but the klansmen, upon their leader's orders, fired revolvers at the inhabitants, who returned their fire desultorily, injuring several of the klansmen. A number of children who had gathered to watch the combat were among the wounded.